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This privacy notice describes how Greenheart International collects, uses, and discloses Personally Identifying Information (also known as “PII”) or Personal Data (collectively “Personal Information”) from and about users of Greenheart International websites. This privacy notice also applies to any associated paper forms. Please read this privacy notice before using Greenheart International websites or submitting any personal information.

These practices may be changed at any time. Changes will be posted along with the date of the change. You should review this privacy notice when you visit Greenheart International websites to make sure that you understand how Personal Information is collected, used, and disclosed.

Why We Collect Information

The Personal Information you provide to us is only used to:

Fulfill your specific request or provide the service or information you requested

Comply with legal requirements and to protect our legal rights

Improve our programs and services

In any other way, if you have provided us with express permission to do so

We may use non-Personal Information for additional reasons described in the remainder of this privacy notice.

If you identify yourself to us by sending us an email with questions or comments, we may retain your comments for future reference.

What Information We Collect

Greenheart collects Personal Information, which is information that on its own or in combination with other information may be used to identify, contact, or locate an individual. Examples include:

Name

Address

Email address

Username and password for our websites

Credit card, other payment information and financial and economic information

Social Security number or other government-issued identification number

IP addresses

Telephone number

Social media account names

Passport number or other similar travel-related information, such as a visa

Personal interests, activities, hobbies, etc.

Health-related information

Family history

Religious and philosophical affiliation

Gender and/or sex

Ethnicity

Date of birth and/or birthday

Country of citizenship

Work and volunteer History

Family information (e.g. names, email, phone numbers)

Photographs and videos

Education information (e.g. school attended, diplomas, transcripts)

Extra-curricular Activities

Greenheart International collects other information that relates to you but does not identify you. Examples include clickstream data and web-browsing information (such as the date and time you visit a website, whether you click on various advertisements or links and the search terms you enter when using a website), and information about your computer, device and internet connection, and geographic location.

How We Collect Personal Information

We collect Personal Information from you in the following ways:

When you register for one of our websites or submit an inquiry through one of our websites;

When you complete and submit a paper or electronic form associated with Greenheart International;

When you send us an email or use other features of one of our websites to contact or interact with us;

When you contact us by telephone regarding Greenheart International; or

Automatically when you visit Greenheart International websites (n.b., the only Personal Information we automatically collect is your IP address, which is only considered Personal Information in certain circumstances).

Distribution of Information

We may share information gathered by us from Greenheart International websites with governmental agencies or other companies assisting us in providing services to you. We may do so when:

Permitted or required by law;

We apply for or assist you in applying for a visa or other documentation necessary for you to participate in one of our programs;

Interacting with third parties who are involved in, assist in the provision of or are otherwise involved with our programs, products, and services (e.g., host families, travel agencies, schools, U.S. Department of State); or

Information provided under one of the four preceding bullet points will not be used by those receiving it for marketing purposes, unless specifically authorized by the user.

Third parties who provide webhosting services or other services that make possible the operation of Greenheart International websites and the services you request through the websites may have access to information that you provide us to the extent that those third parties require access to our databases to service the websites.

In connection with the sale or transfer of all or part of our assets, we reserve the right to transfer information we have obtained from or about you.

We are not responsible for any breach of security or for any actions of any third parties that receive information from us.

Transfer of Information

Greenheart International websites are hosted and maintained in the United States of America. Your Personal Information may be transmitted to countries outside of the European Economic Area, including the United States of America. You can obtain details of the mechanism under which your personal data is transferred outside the EU by contacting us. If your Personal Information is transferred outside the European Economic Area to third party service providers, we will take steps to ensure that your Personal Information receives the same level of protection as if it remained within the European Economic Area, including by entering into data transfer agreements using the European Commission approved Standard Contractual Clauses, or by relying on certification schemes such as the EU–US Privacy Shield.

Cookie/Tracking Technology – Use of Non-Personal Information

Greenheart International websites use cookie and tracking technology to collect non-Personal Information. Our system also automatically gathers information about areas you visit on our websites, and about the links you select from within one of our websites to the other areas of the World Wide Web or elsewhere online. We use such information in the aggregate to understand how our users as a group use the services and resources provided on our websites. This way we know which areas of our websites are preferred by our users, which areas need improvement, and what technologies are being used so that we may continually improve our websites. Personal Information cannot be collected via cookies and other tracking technology, however, if you previously provided us with your Personal Information, cookies may be tied to such information. Aggregate cookie and tracking information may be shared with third parties but that aggregate information does not identify individual website users. Our web servers do not record visitor email addresses unless that information is submitted by the visitor. We may determine what technology is available through your browser to provide you with the most appropriate version of a web page. Greenheart International uses Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Gravity Forms, Yoast, Formstack, Calendly, GoOverseas, and other web traffic tracking tools.

Links to Other Websites

Greenheart International websites contain links to other websites. These links are for your convenience. We do not control, endorse or review the privacy notices of other websites, which may be different than this privacy notice. You should review the privacy notice of other websites before choosing to disclose Personal Information.

Data Security

Greenheart takes steps to secure your Personal Information. We exercise care in providing secure transmissions when we need to transfer your Personal Information from our servers. Our websites use secure server software encryption, which is indicated by https in the url of the website. Encryption is a common method of ensuring that information remains private. Greenheart International cannot guarantee or warrant that the information that you transmit to us, or any communications is completely secure.

Retention of Personal Information

Greenheart International only retains data for as long as necessary for the purposes indicated in this privacy notice or for such other period as may be permitted or required by law.

Children’s Privacy

For children age 14-16, Greenheart International takes additional steps to protect their Personal Information. We do not intend to collect Personal Information from children aged 13 or younger. These additional steps include:

Notifying parents about our privacy practices, including the types of Personal Information we may collect, how the Personal Information is used, and with whom (and how) it is disclosed;

Obtaining consent from the parent for the collection of Personal Information, which may be done in a paper format;

Collecting and storing only the Personal Information reasonably necessary for the purpose we for which we are receiving it; and

Providing parents with the right to request access to or a copy of their children’s Personal Information.

Trademarks

The marks Greenheart, Greenheart Heart Logo, and Sobresmesa are either registered or unregistered trademarks of Greenheart International. All Rights Reserved. Any unauthorized use is prohibited.

Your Rights

Certain jurisdictions provide their residents or citizens with certain rights about their Personal Information. These may include the right to request access to the data we hold about you, to obtain a copy of your Personal Information, to request that your Personal Information be erased, to correct inaccurate information, to ask us to restrict how we process your Personal Information, or to withdraw your consent to our processing of your Personal Information. Your individual rights will depend on your residency and citizenship.

Please contact us using the following information for more information about this privacy notice, to notify us of a concern or complaint, or to exercise any of the individual rights you may have.

Additionally, all marketing emails and newsletters from Greenheart International allow you to opt out of further correspondence. You can do so by clicking the link within the emails, which will guide you on how to opt-out.

How Setting a S.M.A.R.T Goal Can Help You Get Intentional About Your Travels Abroad

Are you getting ready for a life-changing travel experience, but not sure how to prepare? Don’t worry, the excitement and confusion at this stage of your planning is absolutely, 100% normal. Every person who goes abroad feels this way to a certain degree, because preparing for such a big adventure is a big deal!

Your time abroad is sure to be a pivotal experience, one that will leave you and your perspective on the world forever changed. A meaningful travel experience will help you:

Develop meaningful cross-cultural connections with others

Recognize that people and cultures are shaped by their environment

Grow your personal and professional leadership skills

To make the most of your travel experience requires going beyond just researching cultural etiquette, brushing up on a second language or looking up must-see historical sites. Along with packing and researching, it is critical to take some time to reflect on your expectations and intentions for your travels.

Students learning Japanese in Japan.

First Step: Outline Your Personal and Professional Goals

In order to help you begin this path of personal reflection and professional development, you should start setting a few measurable, personal goals for yourself before you leave home. It is important to think hard about your motivations for going abroad, and turn those motivations into specific, trackable goals. After all, you are investing your time and money in this experience; wouldn’t you want to get the most out of it?

Ask yourself a few big questions:

“Why am I going abroad?”

“Is this a career break or something more?”

“Am I seeking adventure or full cultural immersion experience?”

“Am I hoping to build my resume for an eventual job search, or am I looking to explore the world and find my place in it?”

Although your specific reason may vary, it is reasonable to assume that one of the motivators for traveling is because you want to grow, change and challenge yourself in some way.

While it is inevitable you will experience change during your time abroad, YOU are the only person who can determine what you get out of this experience.

The goal in this stage of your goal setting is to establish your own personal goals in order to create benchmarks and a space of reflection before, during, and after your experience abroad.

A group from Gary Comer College Prep volunteering at an animal rescue center in Costa Rica.

Why Setting Goals is Important

It’s easy to say “Teaching/studying/volunteering abroad was amazing and I have changed a lot.” But, will you be able to articulate how you have changed? Will you be able to demonstrate the skills you have learned, and how you have grown as a person during your time abroad?

If you bring it up in a job interview or graduate school application, how are you going to meaningfully talk about your experience? It is important to be able to recognize and articulate the impact your experience is having on you if you hope to use it in your future.

It can be a challenge to come up with meaningful ways to talk about a powerful travel experience, and often we resort to the “It was great!” answer. It’s simple, but it does you and your experience a disservice, because it simplifies a complex experience into something mundane. Basic even.

By setting goals and intentions before your trip and monitoring the progress along the way, you can more effectively measure the impact that your program is having on you. That way, when people ask you, “How was your time abroad?” you can be prepared to answer with more than just, “Awesome.” You’ll be able to look back at your responses, reflections, and experiences and share how your life goals may have changed, how your assumptions and stereotypes shifted, how you dealt with challenges, and how you developed your skills as a global leader.

While setting goals makes sense, outlining them might be a bit more daunting. Luckily, there is a simple guideline to help you get started.

A teacher in Thailand runs with his students at school.

Getting Started: Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Yourself

We understand that it can be challenging to set a goal for your experience abroad, so it can be a helpful exercise to put a bit of structure behind it. To say “I want my time in XXX country to be personally transformative” is an admiral goal, but it is not specific enough. It is a little too vague to say whether or not you have reached it at the end of your program.

SMART is a method of setting and defining specific goals. Following the SMART methodology, a goal-setting process created by Peter Drucker, can help you put together meaningful, measurable, and tangible targets for yourself. There are a few different versions of what SMART stands for, but here’s a useful approach:

S = Specific

Making your goals specific will set out the what, why, and how of your objectives.

Is your goal specific enough? Consider if it is addressing those famous “W” questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Then, check if it is written simply enough to clearly define what you want to do, and how you will do it.

Here is an example of an unspecific goal: “I want develop professionally abroad so I can get a job when I go back home.” There is a little bit of what in that statement, but a little lacking on the how and why.

Try this instead: “I want to learn how I can apply my experience managing a classroom in XXX country to managing projects in my future career. This will help me differentiate myself against other candidates for my dream job at the UN. I will learn through self-reflection and talking with my peers.”

The first statement is the what, the second statement is the why, and the last is the how.

M = Meaningful

Whatever your reasons for traveling abroad, take the time to sit down and think about what would be the most personally important and meaningful outcomes for you when you return home.

We want to make sure that the goals you set for yourself matter, and they are important to you personally.

Because this is such a personal journey, it is tough to write a good verses bad example of a meaningful goal. Suffice to say, if you aren’t excited upon reflection and working toward your goal, or it does not represent a profound change, it may be time to dig a little deeper.

A = Action-Oriented

“I want my experience abroad to change my life” is a passive goal. Someone with this thought process may not take the initiative to make the most of their time abroad. They may be waiting for everything to happen to them, instead of taking action to meet their goals. Having an action-oriented goal gives YOU control of the achievement of your goal.

Focus your goals on an action. What action can you personally take to accomplish your goal? What’s your verb?

Try rephrasing the above goal to “I am going to journal my thoughts down every night so that I will be able to reflect on how my life has changed from this experience.”

A Greenheart Travel teacher practices English with young nuns at an orphanage in Myanmar.

R = Realistic

It’s important to design challenging goals, but to also tailor your expectations to make the goal attainable. If you set yourself up for failure, you’re only going to be discouraged. And if you give yourself a softball, you won’t grow.

Are you going to teach the whole country English? Are you going to solve global warming? Is the professional development you gain from your six months abroad going to land you the job as a US Ambassador? Probably not. It is great to have lofty goals for your personal and professional development! But, getting things done takes time.

A few questions to help outline a realistic goal:

Ask yourself if your goal is actually something you can achieve in your defined period of time.

Maybe you’ll realize that you can’t meet your goal all at once, and you decide to break it into smaller, more easily attainable SMART goals. Or, maybe you need to give yourself a longer period of time to attain that goal.

Before you go, it may be hard to know what goals are realistic and what aren’t, but you will have the opportunity to reevaluate yourself throughout your program and adjust as necessary.

T = Trackable

Now that you’ve got your goal defined, how will you know if you’re getting closer to achieving it?

You will need to define how your progress will be tracked along the way. For example, if you want to visit 25 cities in a year, you can break it up into smaller goals of venturing to two or three cities per month.Measuring your progress helps keep you on…Wait for it… Track!

Trackability helps you celebrate your successes at benchmarks along the way, and motivates you to keep working towards your goal.

This is not to say that your goal needs to be completely quantifiable. Learning a new language can be a goal of yours, but it is tough to say exactly what percentage of the language you know. It is totally fine to use your gut ballpark figure and say “I want to be 75% fluent in Thai after a year here.” Or, maybe your goal is to reach the point where you can have a 10 minute conversation with a stranger, all in Thai!

If you’re learning a language as a beginner, you may be overwhelmed at the get-go. But, as you start to build your vocabulary week to week, you’ll start to recognize some words. You’ll begin talking to cashiers at corner stores, ordering your favorite dishes in the local language, and getting around town a lot easier by asking locals for directions.

Your confidence will begin to grow! Then you may hang out with local friends and start to have conversations about more complex topics like culture or politics, and realize you’re completely lost in conversation again. You’ll think, “Shoot! I thought I was getting good, but I really don’t know ANYTHING.”

This is where the tracking our goal becomes key. It’s important to recognize the small progresses you’re making week to week, and month to month. You’re good with shops and navigation; check that of your language to-do list. Maybe you feel you know 10% of the language. Celebrate that milestone! Now it’s time to focus on the next subject and add another 10% to your fluency.

Download the SMART Goal-Making Worksheet

So, that’s it! Now it’s time to put it into practice. What’s really important for your personal and professional development is ensuring that you have at least one goal that thoroughly meets the SMART criteria above.

Here is an example of a full SMART goal statement:

“I want to learn how I can apply my experience managing a classroom in Thailand to managing projects in my future career. This will help me differentiate myself against other candidates for my dream job at the UN. I will learn through self-reflection and talking with my peers. I am going to journal my thoughts down every night so that I will be able to reflect on how my life has changed from my experience in Thailand. I will write 50 journal entries during my time there.”

3 thoughts on "How Setting a S.M.A.R.T Goal Can Help You Get Intentional About Your Travels Abroad"

Wow! This is such a great article and totally connects with my idea of creating my Wonderlust Travel Journal. A journal with inspiring questions to bring with you while traveling, so your stay will be even more life changing! Thank you for sharing!